Cat Drama and Kitty Prozac

Leo, the chill new cat

In November I adopted a new kitten my parents rescued. He's pretty darn cute, I named him Leo, but I call him "Little Dude". He's laid back, affectionate, sweet, super lazy and has a huge personality.

The problem is that my other cat, Sadie, has a huge personality as well... and according to the vet--apparently some mental disorders, too.

Yes, mental disorders. I have a crazy kitty! Figures.

Anyways, I took her to the vet today because we have been having some aggression towards towards the new cat which I just couldn't figure out. She would be nice to him sometimes. She would cuddle with him sometimes. She would share food with him sometimes. And other times-- she would just kick his ass. And by kicking his ass I mean attempted murder.

I consulted a behavior specialist and she said, "Oh, put him in a crate and let her walk around him to get use to him." Hahahaha. Ridiculous. In a 5 minute time span she went from "I don't care about you" to "I want to kill you" to "let's play!". Seriously, she has issues.

I tried positive reinforcement around him. When he was around was the only time she got treats, she played with her favorite toys or she got any wet food. She liked that and she was nice to him for those things, but as soon as it was over... bam! bam! bam!

I tried those fancy calming collars and sprays. They helped the cats who were already calm, but Sadie-- it made her more high strung.

Sadie, the bipolar kitty

This is Sadie and she looks mean, right?! The man says she looks like she is debating on killing me for  taking her picture. However, she is actually a really sweet cat. She's playful, affectionate, and extremely loyal. She has always been a bit tense and high strung. She runs away from everything... a lot. She loves to hide if anything different happens. She's a routine kind of girl.

The man thought that maybe she was so mean to Leo because we closed the doors to the bedrooms. Random idea right? That's what I thought, but I'm desperate. I opened all the doors. It worked.

IT WORKED. Opening the doors made her nice. IT WORKED.

Me = shocked

The moment we opened up every door was the moment she started being nicer. She still isn't all hugs and kisses, but she only attacked him once today and they've been out together all day. Major, MAJOR progress. She is still staring at him like she hates him, but hey-- you can't ask for miracles.

Anyways, I took her to the vet today and she was diagnosed with OCD, anxiety and depression. I can call her crazy because I have OCD and anxiety, too and I call myself crazy all the time. They say that owners and their pets resemble each other, right? So true.

So the vet has given me kitty prozac. She said that she thinks that it will benefit Sadie in the long run. I had research this option on the web and there really wasn't that much information about it so I thought I'd write about it for all you cat lovers who have a mentally and emotionally challenged feline.

The kitty prozac took a week to really kick in and then Sadie was all lovey dovey. She was licking the boy's face, cuddling with him on the sofa and they were playing. It was like a miracle.

I kept her on it for a month straight and then slowly weaned her down the following month with no changes. She and Leo are still buddies! Yay!

I LOVE kitty prozac!